Luol Deng and Kirk Hinrich did not play in Thursday night’s Game 6. Hinrich missed his second straight game with a bruised left calf. Deng came down with an illness — Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau called it flu-like symptoms — before the game. An hour before tipoff, Deng was listed as a starter. But minutes before the game, Deng was ruled out and seen walking out of the arena.

"You just deal with it," Thibodeau said of the injuries. "If you want to use it as an excuse, you can. Preferably, we don’t. … We’ve got a great group of guys, they’ve been hit hard all year and they’ve responded to every challenge."

Chicago has been without MVP Derrick Rose all season. Rose tore the ACL in his left knee in a playoff game last April. He was medically cleared to play in late December, and has been practicing with the team, but hasn’t felt comfortable enough to return.

Meanwhile, Joakim Noah has been battling plantar fasciitis.

The Nets didn’t list anyone on their injury report, but they are banged up. Joe Johnson has plantar fasciitis; Andray Blatche has a calf strain; and Reggie Evans was battling an illness. Evans and Johnson started the game for the Nets and Blatche saw time off the bench.